I just picked up The Two Towers yesterday on dvd. The sound mix on the dvd is one of the best I have ever heard. I guess this should be expected, but there were some scenes that blew me away. Specifically the scene where during the battle of Hells Deep, when the Orcs set the bomb off the blow open the wall...every single boulder that hit the ground shook my room.

The emotion in the movie was not near as intense as the first, but the battle scenes are outstanding.

The only special feature that I have watched so far is the Return of the King preview. It looks like it will be the Jewel of the set.

Well, just thought I would let it be known that this film is available now in th right places.

The DVD isn't due out for three weeks, so whoever you bought it from is either a bootlegger or breaking the distribution agreement, both of which are illegal and no doubt will lead to this thread being closed.

"Would I rather be feared or loved? Um...easy, both. I want people to be afraid of how much they love me."
--Michael Scott, The Office

"When I get sad I just stop being sad and be awesome instead. True story."
--Barney Stinson, How I Met Your Mother

It's not a bootleg what so ever...I would never ever buy a bootleg product. I'm also not trying to get people to go to this store for a purchase or any advertising for this shop...I'm just stating that I was able to (as I often am) purchse this dvd early.

I am also not making bootleg copies myself. I simply picked on up and thought I would post my initial thoughts on what it is like.

Thank you Neil. I wasn't trying to give anything away or trying to provide business for this shop. I was fortunate enought to get this dvd early and thought you guys might want to know what it was like. When I watch it again, I will give a more in depth review.

B&M stores aren't allowed to stock titles on their shelves before the release date. It's possible that an online store could ship you a DVD when it's available to them, and that it gets there before the B&Ms can sell it, but that's allowed.

"Would I rather be feared or loved? Um...easy, both. I want people to be afraid of how much they love me."
--Michael Scott, The Office

"When I get sad I just stop being sad and be awesome instead. True story."
--Barney Stinson, How I Met Your Mother

B&M stores aren't allowed to stock titles on their shelves before the release date.

I don't think it is "illegal." I think it is frowned upon by the studios, and if they find out, they can cut off that retailer from receiving product early, but it *certainly* isn't against any law. Even the whole Harry Potter embargo wasn't a law (unless someone tried to print something). The only penalty was that you'd get no Harry Potter books in the future.

I've watched the Academy Screener a few times, I loved the sound of the Deeping wall exploding as well. But my favorite sound scene is when Saruman and Wormtongue are on the balcony over looking the army. Amazing.

Can't wait to own the disc, is the sound over-cooked like the FotR Theatrical Cut DVD?

Are academy screeners the same quality as the "official" release? I too watched the screener and I thought the picture looked a bit washed out. Maybe this is the intended look for Two Towers. The audio was outstanding though.

Ok....I haven't watched it a second time but I can comment on a few things. The sound as I said earlier is out-frikkin-standing. From the opening battle between Gandolf and the Balrog, to the battle of Hells Deep, to the sound anytime your were with Tree Men (forget name).

The picture quality is on par with anything I have seen. More more of this film takes place in darker scenes, shadowy and gloomy, but there is no artifacting or "fog" anywhere.

The preview of The Return of the King is similar to that of the Two Towers on the first Fellowship dvd. It is a trailer/interview/making of featurette in a sense. It lasts about 10 minutes, but given what I saw, TROTK is going to be the jewel of this series.

Overall, I still think Fellowship is a better film that the TT, due to the emotional aspect being less apparent in TT. But the demo material alone on TT is worth the purchase.